Things are falling apart in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, now more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or restructuring themselves along new and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from governments, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are deteriorating and giving way."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that animates the concluding book, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding foray into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the people appear and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in creature form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, vehicles are caught and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first encountered as a child in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the spiky and determined main character of the prior volumes, but more mature, sadder, more careful, more doubtful. This limitation is intensified by her split from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to leave in pursuit of that childlike part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her journey to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in play, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, procedural evil – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the authority's High Council, and is intent on using his newfound power to extend the institution's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried infant the heroine to security along a flooded river as an child in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is sent to a key location to learn more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which appears somehow to be the cause of a social and economic upheaval rippling out from the region. The oil is viewed by various factions as a commercial product, by different parties as a research-based or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be eradicated. The question of where it comes from, its meaning, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Like His Dark Materials, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably connected with the destiny of the realm
In its predecessor, these plots ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they merge. As in His Dark Materials, her choices and her path are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the world. Her individual mission to reunite with her soul and recover her creativity becomes the key conflict in a wider battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is seeking to stifle independence of thinking, innovation and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which humans can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The book starts with the unveiling of a collection of unusual openings in the structure of the world's atmosphere: windows that look to give on to different dimensions. A particular portal seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The church, with Delamare at its leadership, classifies these portals as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and sets out to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and revert to feeling, yet, her certainty that these places must be protected – that what they stand for and what they provide is mysteriously vital – increases. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical struggle between naivety and maturity is prepared.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
